This past Friday we had a fully involved barn fire in Smithtown, NY where I serve as PIO. Fortunately horses stalled in the barn and other livestock where turned out in paddocks when the fire erupted so thankfully no animals were lost or injured.
In Smithtown, most property zoned for livestock has the family residence at the front of the property and the barn area set to the back.
At Friday’s fire the barn was about 100 yards set back from the access street. Incident command was also set up close to the barn. On the access street was one Engine supplying the water source from a hydrant, Fire Police and Suffolk County PD.
Since most residential fires are right off the street, incident command, manpower, ambulances, apparatus etc. are in easy view and a flurry of activity. At this scene the street was relatively quite with the fire ground located 100 yards in.
Obviously PD did not allow pedestrians to approach the fire scene and had the property shut off at the street.
I was on the fire ground taking pictures, checking in at incident command and making notes on the fire for a release.
All of a sudden I realized that I was not watching my own back. At a normal fire scene I am a short distance from the street and can easily be pointed out to the media. Sometimes I am called on the radio about press, sometimes I am yelled to, other times someone runs up to me to let me know, but at this scene the street was pretty quite.
So about 30 minutes into the fire I took a walk to the street to find 3 news outlets waiting to learn more about the incident. I pride myself on letting the media know I am aware of their presence as soon as they arrive. I was disappointed in myself.
I learned from the lesson. In the future if an incident like this occurs again I will –
1. See who is on the street and appears that they will be stationed there throughout the operation. Let that member act as the liaison between the press and myself. They will inform me via radio of media on site.
2. Give that member my cell phone. I could not hear the cell on the fire ground. The liaison can field calls and relay the information to me via radio so I can respond.
3. Let PD know who the designated liaison is if press asks them for information.
This sounds relatively simple, and it is. My mistake? I did not do an appropriate PIO “size up” before I undertook my fire ground responsibilities.
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Benjamin Franklin Fire Service Trivia – December 3, 2010
- How do I Address a Judge? – November 18, 2010
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